


Sent To The Office

by Broken_Record_3



Series: S Theodora Markson oneshots [1]
Category: All the Wrong Questions - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Ableism, Child Abuse, Gen, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27719449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Record_3/pseuds/Broken_Record_3
Summary: 5th-grader Solitude Markson has been called to the office of the Head Of Student Management. She knows this won't end well.
Series: S Theodora Markson oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065650
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Sent To The Office

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah PLEASE read the tags for this one 
> 
> Context for this one is that Theodora has ADHD, dyslexia, and autism. Also, can you even tell I have education-related trauma /s?

The office of Mrs. W was the least favourite place of every student training at The Headquarters. Mrs. W was the Head of Student Management, and the worst person at managing students. Her office was at the very end of a very long hall, and the bench outside was always either very cold or far too hot. 

The day that Solitude Markson was sitting on the bench, it was freezing cold. Her slacks had holes in the knees and she had lost her jacket a few days earlier, which didn’t help. It was the 5th time she had been called to Mrs. W’s office this month, and it was the 15th. 

“SOLITUDE!” Mrs. W yelled from inside her office. Those walls must’ve been made of paper, she thought to herself. 

She stood up and opened the door to the office. Mrs. W was sitting at her desk and glaring at Solitude, the same glare she had used every one of those 15 meetings. 

“Call me Miss Markson, please give me some respect,” Solitude replied sharply. 

“I’ll give you the respect when you earn it, Solitude. Now sit down.” 

Solitude sat down and sighed. She knew better than to ask for respect from Mrs. W, but she tried every time anyway. Her older sisters were “Miss Markson”, her younger brothers were “Mr Markson”, but she was just Solitude. She wasn’t going to let anyone call her that when she was older, she was sure of it. 

“Now, Solitude, do you know why I called you here?” Mrs. W asked, grabbing a pencil and a notepad. 

“No.” 

“Well, I’ve called you here about the Anna Karenina book project,” 

Solitude sighed and leaned her chair back until her hair was nearly touching the floor. She didn’t want to hear another word about that stupid book project until the day she died, but she apparently didn’t get to have that wish come true. 

“Solitude, for the essay portion of the assignment, you simply wrote “I don’t know” and proceeded to draw a diagram of some sort of engine,” 

“Well, you can’t expect me to write an essay! I’m in 4th grade for fucks sake!” She replied, flipping her chair back onto the front legs. Her hair flopped over her face, and when she shook it away she saw Mrs. W glaring harder. 

“Don’t swear at anyone in administration! And the essay isn’t difficult, it’s only 4 paragraphs, it’s barely even an essay. Everyone else in your class has already completed it.” 

“Mrs. W,” Solitude began, leaning forward onto the desk, “I. Can’t. Read!” 

“What do you mean “I can’t read”? Of course you can read, there’s no way you’re that stupid.” 

Solitude slouched onto the table. There was no way she was going through this again. 

“Get your filthy hair off my table! Do you ever wash it?” Mrs. W hissed, prodding Solitude’s head with a ruler until she raised it. 

“I wash it every day, it’s just frizzy! And I can’t read, I swear! All the letters blend together and mix up and I can’t read them, no matter how hard I try.” 

“Then you’re not trying hard enough!” 

“I’M TRYING!” 

Mrs. W picked up her ruler and slammed it against the table. Solitude quickly straightened her back and looked Mrs. W in the eyes. She had been in the office enough times to know what that means, and she wanted to be able to hold things after this. 

“I- I’m sorry, Ma’am.” 

“Good. Now, since you’re going to start trying at your reading, I’d like to know what your specialty is going to be.” 

“Mrs. W, I’ve already told you. I’m going to be a car mechanic, and my specialty is going to be engines.” Solitude explained, in the most careful way she could. 

“In the Volunteer Fire Department, we specialize in academic subjects. Being a mechanic is not an academic career.” 

“Mrs. W, why can people choose to be an inventor and not a mechanic? One of them is making engines and the other one is fixing them-“ 

“Because” Mrs. W hissed, “inventing is something smart people do. I know you’re smart, Solitude, even if you aren’t showing it right now. We wouldn’t want you to be dumb forever.” 

“What do you mean, “dumb forever”? Just because I don’t read every moment I’m alive, I’m still smart. I bet I can fix your car, Mrs. W. I know there’s a problem with it, it makes this ridiculous ticking noise whenever you driv- OW!” 

Mrs. W had brought the ruler down on Solitude’s hands with a sickening swish noise. Solitude yanked her hands back right as she realized what was going on, but it wasn’t fast enough. 

Her hands stung like they were on fire, and they were bright red. She quickly put them in her pockets to make sure they didn’t get hit again. 

“Do you have anything else to say for yourself? I have someone waiting.” Mrs. W said, looking Solitude in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry for what I said today, and I’ll try harder to learn how to read.” Solitude said, swallowing all the words she wanted to say. 

With a nod from Mrs. W, she walked out of the room. She had an empty feeling in her stomach, like everything good had been knocked out of her by the ruler. She was going to go lie on her bed for a while, she needed it.


End file.
